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Afterword

Ilene Woods, voice of Disney’s Cinderella, dies at 81

By Claire Noland
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Ilene Woods, a singer who provided the voice of Cinderella for Walt Disney’s 1950 animated film, died Thursday at age 81.

A native of Portsmouth, N.H., Woods was a radio star as a teenager. As a favor to songwriters Mack David and Jerry Livingston, she made demo recordings of ‘Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,’ ‘A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes’ and ‘So This is Love’ in 1948. The songwriters made their pitch to Walt Disney, who had already auditioned more than 300 singers and wasn’t satisfied with any voices. When he heard Woods, he asked her to audition and she got the role.

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She later married Ed Shaughnessy, a jazz drummer who performed for many years with Doc Severinsen’s band on ‘The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.’ Woods was declared a Disney Legend in 2003.

A full obituary will follow at latimes.com/obits.

-- Claire Noland

Afterword
Claire Noland

Claire Noland, who joined the Los Angeles Times in 1994, became editor of curated email newsletters in spring 2015. She had been in the Obituary Department since 2006, the last six years as editor. Before that, she was an editor in Sports. A California native and graduate of Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles, she worked at the Antelope Valley Press, Los Angeles Daily News and Minneapolis Star Tribune. She left The Times in December 2015.

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